Segment Director - Dietary Fiber & Nutritional Ingredients

Griffith Foods is a global manufacturer of food products.  We provide a wide range of taste and texture components for food industry customers throughout the world.  Our products include seasoning blends, dry mixes, coating systems, dough blends, crumbs, flavors, sauces and food bases that are used in an extensive variety of application from snack foods and processed meat and poultry to ready meals. Our customers include food processors, restaurant operators and grocery retailers.  While our name may not be familiar to consumers, our products are key components of foods offered by many of the world’s best-known companies.

Location:  Alsip, IL or Lombard, IL

Summary: The Segment Director will play a crucial role in launching Terova’s novel plant-based dietary fiber ingredient, NuBana, and its line extensions, establishing its position in the industry. The Segment Director will develop and execute strategies for the market development and business growth of the NuBana portfolio worldwide. The role involves managing market development and sales activities for the existing customer base in North America, identifying and engaging with new prospects and leads, and expanding current business worldwide. Collaboration is required with the Director of Global Business Development (Terova) for external markets and the Global Business Development Director (Griffith Foods) for Griffith Partnership Ecosystems projects. Cross-functional partnership with Terova Operations, Supply Chain, and Technical teams is essential. The Segment Director must effectively work as a team player with international teams, both internal and external, and comfortably operate in a multi-locational, multi-cultural matrix organization.

This role requires a balance of technical knowledge and strategic business development with a hands-on approach. The ideal candidate will need to manage technical and developmental projects alongside market development and customer management activities.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute strategies for the market development and business growth of the NuBana/Dietary Fiber portfolio worldwide.
• Map the market landscape for NuBana Green Banana Dietary Fiber and other line extensions, identify potential usage categories, and develop a map of potential users and competitive landscape.
• Develop product identity for the novel NuBana product pipeline and shape an action plan for market positioning across different application categories.
• Establish and expand Terova’s industry presence by creating a network of customer connections. Serve as Terova’s primary point of contact for customer R&D, Applications, Quality, Purchasing, and Brand personnel; coordinate and direct secondary contacts as needed.
• Support global segment sales through international customer alliances and strategic supply partnerships.
• Achieve planned revenue, contribution margin, and growth objectives. Manage negotiations with clients and customers regarding pricing, cost delivery, and special promotions.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Operations teams to ensure smooth product scale-up, launch and market penetration.
• Work closely with R&D, technical, and application teams on product demonstrations, application prototypes, and tools to support NuBana in final applications. Coordinate customer samples and follow up to assess new opportunities and customer volume potential.
• Achieve the overall annual budget for the NuBana Dietary Fiber portfolio in major markets in NA/EU/Asia-Pacific.
• Engage with customers to identify partnership areas and make a business case for Terova’s product portfolio and sustainability platform.
• Prepare and submit business analysis and reports.
• Represent Terova at trade shows, conferences, conventions, sales meetings, and training courses.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university. A post-graduate degree in Food Science, Marketing, or Business is desirable.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in the food industry with a strong record of B2B sales/business development of plant-based ingredients.
• Understanding of international supply chains and the competitive landscape, preferably in the dietary fiber category in the North American Market. Experience in or exposure to other international/global markets like Europe/Asia is an advantage.
• Industry knowledge and technical understanding of market and technical issues related to food/nutrition ingredients, product development, and manufacturing using plant-based ingredients-especially dietary fibers.
• Experience in product management/business development of high-quality/technical plant-based ingredients in the food & beverage or dietary supplement industry, including launching new products in the B2B space.
• Familiarity with quality, performance, and sustainability standards for B2B sales of plant-based ingredients, especially in the dietary fiber category.
• Ability to develop a strong network at Senior Buyer/Product Development/Brand/C-Suite Leadership levels in food/supplement companies.
• Ability to differentiate product and service offerings and create value-added sales/supply opportunities for the category.
• Experience in forecasting and managing budgets for top-line sales growth, project and campaign budgets, and segment profitability.
• Strong communication skills (written/verbal) to effectively collaborate with internal teams and engage with potential clients and business ecosystem partners.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, and SharePoint, and experience working with ERP/CRM systems.
• Must be able to travel internationally up to 40-50% of the time.
• Fluent in Spanish is a plus.

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